Problems in the Mirror
by She Walked There
Summary: A few months after the game, things settled down. But now, mysterious images in Centra have begun appearing. Things here are more than they seem... But what ARE they?
1. 1: Mirage

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Problems in the Mirror

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1: Mirage

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1

Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose with his finger as he stared at the update from his current Centra squad. The reports were vague, as always, but he'd noted a recurring theme through the weekly updates: a hazy shape in the distance that shimmered like a desert mirage. Of course, Centra _was_ a desert, but Squall's recently gained "abnormality meter" went sky high every time he thought about the occurrence. Considering the full data, the likelihood of the "mirage" being as simple as a common mirage due to extreme heat exposure was so slim Squall wanted to go and investigate the phenomena himself.

He had gone through several squads, assigning them to Centra to investigate the ruins and protect Cid and Edea. Each had reported the shape in the distance, and how as it became more and more commonplace it became more and more solid, until it was a completely regular sight and they felt as if they walked toward it, they would reach it. The SeeDs who traveled in the area of the mirage automatically junctioned spells and GFs. They often described the feeling of eyes on them. Edea herself (whose life as a sorceress had left her with a sensitivity to magic) had stated that she had sensed a lot of magic near the mirage.

For the first time since Ultimecia, SeeD business completely stumped Squall. It was not a pleasant feeling.

He heard the lift to the bridge whir and then click into place— Quistis had arrived on the bridge.

"Commander Squall," Quistis said.

"As usual, right on time," Squall replied.

"You sent for me?" The blonde asked.

"Yes. Zell should be arriving any minute, and Nida probably before that."

"We're going somewhere?" Quistis asked.

"We'll be heading to FH to pick up the Ragnarok, and then Nida will be flying the Garden back to its place in Balamb."

"And then?" Quistis asked.

"You, Zell and I will head to Centra in the Ragnarok, where we will further investigate the Mirage Incident."

"And the Garden will stay in Balamb, with…"

"Xu acting as Commander in my place."

Just then the lift descended, and when it returned to its place Nida and Zell stepped off. Nida automatically climbed the mini-dais and started the Garden's turbines while Zell stood by the lift.

"Where to?" Nida asked.

"Just head west, following the bridge."

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2

They zipped along the ocean like a boat but at speeds no boat could ever hope to reach, the wind and salt whipping their hair and eyes. The feel of the waves crashing against the Garden… heaving it up and down… was almost like a rocking motion, but nowhere near gentle. It had taken students a good while to gain something that passed for sea/air/land legs, but most students could get around on the Garden just fine, no matter what it was doing.

Squall watched the waves on the water with his eyes narrowed into slits like a cat's. His eyes, normally a brown rich like the earth you find when you overturn damp leaves, reflected the surfaces of the water beneath the near-sundown light and became a strange, reflective blue.

"Keep heading west, Nida," Squall murmured into the pilots ear.

"Yes, sir."

Squall stood at the helm, watching what had been a distant horizon grow closer and closer as a new horizon took the old one's place. Time seemed a fleeting dream as Squall stood tall at the helm of what was effectively his Garden, inwardly exulting in the summer sun and wind and waves, rejoicing in the rare salt spray that actually managed to reach him.

"Commander Squall! There appears to be an object in the water!"

"Will we run over it?" Squall asked.

"I don't know sir!"

"Nida, can you do a direct lift from sea to air?"

"You mean go straight from sailing to flying?"

Squall nodded.

"It's possible… I've never done it before."

"Then try."

Nida pulled hard on the controls, launching the Garden into the air just in time to miss the object. The sudden ascent sent everyone reeling backwards, towards the lift. Luckily, Zell managed to hold his weight enough to be able to send everyone forwards. Nida rushed to the console and leveled the Garden out, so that no-one would unbalance it further by sliding towards the bottom.

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[][2][]

"Commander Squall, FH in sight."

"Head for it, and then we can see how much damage we took." Xu said.

Squall turned to give Nida his orders. "After that, Zell, Quistis and I will take the Ragnarok while you and Xu take the Garden. We'll head back to the object to see what it is."

"Yes sir," Xu and Nida replied.

They landed at FH, and Squall went to talk to the dock-men, to see if they could find any damage on the hull. Finding none, Squall headed straight for the Ragnarok with Zell and Quistis in tow.

Esthar's flag ship lay there, where he'd left it in the Mayor's front yard. Zell grinned, and even Squall smiled a little at the absurdity of the ship's presence on the lawn of FH's leaders.

"All aboard," Zell said quietly as the ramp lowered and they walked in.

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3

Cid and Edea stood in their rebuilt kitchen, comforting the shell-shocked SeeDs who sat at their kitchen table drinking tea filled with calming herbs.

"A forest, out of nowhere," sobbed one SeeD. "One minute there was just desert and the next… A FRICKIN' FOREST."

"I've seen plenty o' magic, Matron, but this was… weird. Not like anything I've ever seen before," came another voice from the doorway.

Edea turned around to see a very pale looking Seifer standing before her. The vivid catlike green of his (usually slitted) eyes stood out in that moon white face. The effect made him seem much younger than he usually did. The fact that his eyes had widened and now trembled only added to the effect.

"It is unusual," Edea replied.

"Is it dangerous?" Cid asked.

One of the pale, clammy SeeDs sitting at the table nodded and stammered, "There are _things_ in that forest—"

"—You got **_in_**?!" Edea cried. She'd thought it only an illusion, or maybe a window to another realm. But if it was solid… She dared not think of what that meant.

"Y-y-yes. The things in that forest looked like T-Rexaurs, but they were more like men in some ways. Like… lizards that walk on two legs. They attacked us with spears and tiny swords."

"But only sentient beings make weapons!" Cid exclaimed.

"They _were_ sentient. They didn't try to kill us, just jabbed their spears at us and chattered," Seifer replied. "Like they wanted us out."

"Amazing," Cid breathed.

"Yeah, right up until you get poked in the chest by one."

"And the city?" Edea asked, trying to sound calm.

"Right next to the forest," Seifer replied.

i

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COMMENTS: For once, something that ISN'T AU! Can you believe it? It's a little far-fetched, but it's a fusion that technically CAN take place in the normal universe. AHAHAHAHAH! And somebody go give a big, fat, sloppy kiss to Edwin, who performed the song _Alive_, and Reel Big Fish, who did a cover of the James Bond theme. Thank also Ska-P, for the Lupin III theme.


	2. 2: Because Heat Seeking Missiles Are Fun

COMMENTS: Yes, I know, I'm giving the _Ragnarok_ a few toys the game never mentioned, but you just don't put guns in a ship without giving it SOMETHING to know when it's being fired on or is about to hit something. To do so would be plain irresponsible!

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Problems in the Mirror

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2: Because Heat Seeking Missiles Are Fun

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Intro

"Can you say how much damage?" Nida asked the leader of the squad the mayor had designed to help care for the Garden.

The man (Old Thom) shook his head, his blue eyes a little concerned. "Not quite as bad as when you crashed into FH, but close." He then began to list the parts of the Garden that the high seas hit-and-run had damaged, half of which Nida had never heard of and half of which Nida knew that Squall had just paid to have waxed.

"How much are we going to have to pay?" Xu interjected

A slow grin spread across Old Thom's face. "If you get rid of whatever you ran over, nothing. It's been troubling our fishing boats. Very annoying little problem. Can't survive in FH without fish."

"I see," Xu said. "Fine, we'll get rid of your monster."

"Better ask Squall first," Nida told her. It wasn't that Nida was a by-the-book person— he just thought Squall scary when angry.

Xu gave him a dry look. "I have a feeling that Squall's ready to kill it too."

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1

"STUPID!" 

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Kick. 

"MONSTER!" Squall kicked the metal of the Ragnarok, ignoring the flashes of pain it jolting through his foot and up his leg. 

__

It easily damaged the strong metal of Cid's Garden… and I have to pay for it, Squall thought bitterly. Cid had made it abundantly clear that any damage Garden took would come out of _his_ paycheck. Which meant Rinoa wouldn't get the ring she thought she was getting for her birthday. _Damn._

He groaned and pressed his forehead to the cool metal of the wall.

"Squall!" Zell suddenly shouted from the cockpit.

"Yeah?" He shouted back, not lifting his head from the wall.

"Message from Xu and Nida. About the Garden."

"Coming." He shrugged and strolled into the cockpit of the Ragnarok, inwardly impressed as always by the manufacturing.

Xu and Nida's faces filled a screen on the control panel.

"Commander Squall," Xu and Nida said, saluting. Squall returned the salute and nodded for them to give their message.

"Commander, I have a list of the parts the hit damaged… and it's a long list."

"How long?" Squall asked, his voice quiet but deadly.

"Very long," Nida said, to which Xu added, "Ten pages long."

"The cost?" Squall asked.

"Well, if we kill the monster that did it, then the repairs are free. They say it's troubling the fishing boats."

"Well," Zell said as he seated himself at the controls, "the plan was to go back and figure out what we hit."

"Then we go," Squall said.

[] [] []

The two vehicles zipped along at about the same speed. Nida's ability to gun it as high as he could and keep the Garden steady impressed Squall, just as much as Zell's ability to rein in the _Ragnarok's_ speed.

"Zell, is it coming up?"

"Well, we got a big something that ain't the Garden just east. It's right in our way."

"That's it," Quistis said. "We _do_ have a plan of action, right?"

"O' course we do!" Zell scoffed. "Kill it!"

Squall smiled a mirthless smile. "Zell, fire on it once it's in range."

"Right!"

They soon approached it, but Zell (amazingly) held fire until the dot was large and there was no chance of missing the beast. Squall stared at the silver-purple tentacles that waved above the water. He could vaguely make out a large eye from above, and below the eye, in the roiling water lurked sharp, pointed shapes— teeth.

"Wait a second! Is that a girl?" Zell suddenly cried, pointing down.

Squall blinked and stared at the figure that appeared to be standing on an island that hadn't been there before.

The sea monster chose this moment to prove itself sentient by speaking. It spoke with a deep, booming voice that echoed over the water.

"**_Talia…_**" The monster rumbled. Squall barely recognized the language as language spoken in Centra when Centra was green. "**_…You have dealt falsely with me…_**"

"Your ring is in the depths of the ocean, as we promised," the figure replied. "We sank a ship full of all the rings of Lea Monde." 

Squall recognized the word 'Lea Monde'. It was the name the Centra peoples used for 'the world'. 

"**_Do not lie to me, Undine spirit! As I am of the water, so are you! Let not one water creature lie to another!_**" This loud, angry rumbling was terrible to hear.

"Hold your fire, Zell," Squall said. "This Talia person may just rid us of our problem. If she lives long enough."

"Gotcha," Zell replied.

"I speak the truth!" The girl insisted. "We sank the ship just a little ways out from the city walls!"

"**_Liar! I shall have your ring, Undine spirit!_**"

The girl's body shifted into something entirely different from anything he had ever seen before. She bore a suspicious resemblance to Shiva, except without the aura that screamed "cold."

"Then have it!" Talia cried. "But first, Kraken, you must promise to never trouble these fair seas again!"

"**_Agreed_**," rumbled the Kraken as Talia tossed something into the water. He disappeared slowly under the waves.

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Interlude

An hour or so later found Squall and company drinking coffee on the Ragnarok, discussing the Kraken and the mysterious girl— Talia. Well, all members but Selphie and Irvine, who were in the cockpit. Selphie was flying the ship and Irvine was 'keeping her company.' 

"Selphie?" Irvine suddenly asked, placing his hat on Selphie's head.

"Yeah, Irvie?"

"Is that thing still on the radar?"

"Um…" She paused to look for the telltale blip on the radar. Finding it, she replied, "Yeah."

"Want to make it blow up?"

"Whoo-hoo! Oh yeah!"

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A sudden sound (rather like an explosion, Rinoa thought, though she quickly dismissed the notion) rocked the ship. "What was that?" She cried.

"That was just Selphie firing our guns," Zell replied casually, chancing a look up at the cockpit. 

"From the sound of it, the heat seekers blasted off at particularly high speed," Quistis commented.

"HEAT SEEKERS? SHIT!!" The blonde martial artist cried suddenly, his electric blue eyes widening in shock and horror.

"What's wrong with Zell?" Rinoa asked sweetly to no one in particular as Zell dashed off to the cockpit, screaming about water and height and tsunamis.

2

Irvine turned at the sound of the lift ascending and the sound of fast footsteps ringing against the metal floors. The door opened and Irvine's second least favorite blonde staggered in, electric blues eyes wide with horror, crying "SELPHIE! TAKE THE RAGNAROK UP! TAKE IT UP!" 

"Zell, speak sense!" Selphie asked. 

"Increase our altitude! NOW!" The martial artist replied.

Selphie did so, knowing better than to ignore Zell when concerning the Ragnarok. She had only one question, but before she could ask, It happened.

A muffled "**BOOM!!!**" and water splashed up into the air, reaching almost to the top of the Garden. Zell cried out in awe of the underwater explosion they'd caused and screamed in fear for Garden.

"Selphie! Garden's gotta get outta here!" Zell cried, unsure of why he was screaming.

"They're already on it!" Irvine pointed. Sure enough, Garden was speeding away. Behind them, however, something faintly purplish struggled to surface. Zell's mouth opened wide.

"What is _that_?!" Selphie screamed, her voice having lost all its cheer.

"Some girl called it Kraken," Zell replied.

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COMMENTS:

The girl is Talia, an Undine— a sea spirit from _Vagrant Story_ who got no actual screen time, much like Mullenkamp. Trust me, there are NO original characters here. VS fans, do you remember Talian Ring? Its item description gives a certain amount of back-story into the Kiltian religion and mythology system. According to the item description Talian Ring is "the ring the sea spirit Talia used to pacify the Kraken." Yes, I'm that much of a geek.

((Green eyed cat + Seifer skin))


	3. 3: Demon Sages May or May Not Be There

COMMENTS: Again, these characters might SEEM original, but trust me, they aren't. Once I reveal my secret (which, to the savvy of you, I will almost immediately), I'll show you where you can find them. I'll tell you this, though: they're all characters of but not in a certain game. Which makes no sense now, but you'll see later.

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**Problems in the Mirror**

Teaser for Chapter 3.

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**3: Demon-Sages May or May Not Be There**

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**1**

Zell landed the Ragnarok as gently as he ever had. Ever since an unfortunate incident involving rust, jellyfish, a beached whale and nasty looks from several Galbadian fishermen, Zell had restrained from landing anywhere near beaches.

Unfortunately, Zell's determination to keep said incident from Ever— Happening— _Again_often led to long hikes. Today was such a day. After cresting a grassy knoll covered with various colorful flowers, the hike to the Orphanage was a short trip downhill.

Until Zell took a step down the path and vanished.

Squall followed immediately to find himself in a forest.

"Squall!"

He turned to see Zell standing knee deep in a stream. A strange white cloud, rather like snow, fluttered around him. Some specks of white landed lightly on the black tattoo on his left cheek.

"Squall, where are we? Do _you_ know what's happening?"

"No." Squall replied. "What are those things?"

Zell touched the speck of white on his cheek. "They're like snow. Like snow." Zell seemed to drift in a daze.

"Snowflies," provided a girl whom Squall could have sworn had not stood in the clearing a moment before. "They're called snowflies."

"Who are you?" Squall asked.

The girl smiled a distant, otherworldly smile. "I am Marlene, who shall be named a sage."

Squall noticed that she wore a symbol that he recognized as all too familiar— the signet in his mind when he summoned a certain GF. "Why are you wearing the sign of Diablo?"

"I wear the sign of my physical father. That you know his name I find surprising."

"Why?"

She inclined her head regally. "Come with me. Galerian should like to meet you, I think."

"You think a lot, don't you?" Zell asked.

"When one _knows_ everything, there is little need for thought." She stressed the word 'knows' only mildly, her voice still distant.

"You know everything?"

"Not yet. But I will." She made her statement with a childlike piety, and Squall noticed how young she looked— she wasn't very tall, but she showed promise to be beautiful. Ears that swept lightly upwards, long, fine golden hair, skin a creamy pale: she reminded him of Quistis, except for her eyes. Her eyes were an uncanny color— a light gray tinged the white of her eyeballs, but her irises were a deep black, the same black as her pupils. She looked as frail as a pale young human child, but with a fey quality.

"Why?"

"I am the half-demon sage Marlene. You _must_ come with me. It is very important."

They followed her down the path. It felt like hours, but they eventually reached an entrance to a great limestone city. A bridge made of a floating stone crossed over the water of the forest river to the city. 

Squall glared at the floating cobblestone. It shouldn't exist. It _couldn't_ exist. "What's that?"

"Oh, 'tis a cloudstone. 'Twill give a wobble when you step upon it, but you needn't worry. You shan't fall off unless you jump."

With that, she climbed up a set of stairs and onto a structure. The cloudstone interlocked with a part of the structure and she stepped on it; but when Squall made to follow her, she, the city and the forest vanished. 

They were only a few steps down the path to the Orphanage, and careening down towards them from atop the knoll was Quistis. She waved her arms rapidly, crying, out their names.

"What _happened_?" Zell asked. "D'ya think it's like time-travel?"

"Whatever."

"Where WERE you two? You completely vanished! I couldn't move past the hill!"

"Weird," Zell said.

"LEONHART! CHICKENWUSS!" A new voice cried out. Seifer emerged from the path, seemingly from nowhere.

"Where did _you_ go?" Squall asked, grabbing Seifer by the collar and pulling him down to eye-level. He noticed that Seifer had finally gotten a sheath for his damned gunblade. The weapon was now slung in a back-sheath, a welcome change from the fighter carrying it on his shoulder all the time.

"To a forest," Seifer grunted. "Got stared at by some weird-eyed kid. Where were you?"

"Same."

Seifer nodded, then saluted, which Squall returned after a bit.


End file.
